Van Persie admits his Arsenal leveller was offside at Chelsea but claims justice has finally been done

Arsenal hero Robin van Persie has admitted his controversial equaliser that put the Gunners on track for a shock victory at Stamford Bridge was 'a little bit offside' but claims it was justice for a goal against Chelsea that was ruled out three years ago.

Blues coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is furious the goal was allowed to stand - and has demanded an apology from referee Mike Dean - but he could face a Football Association rap for his criticism of the officials.

Lucky strike: Robin Van Persie fires home Arsenal's equaliser at Stamford Bridge on Sunday - a goal that should have been ruled out for offside.

Scolari accused Dean of 'killing' his team but Van Persie, who went on to seal a 2-1 victory with a second goal, said: 'I scored a goal against Chelsea [in a 2-0 home defeat in December 2005].

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'I was onside but the ref gave it offside and it didn't count. Today was maybe a little bit offside but it counted and that's all that matters.'

Hailing the Gunners' team spirit after recovering from Johan Djourou's first-half own goal, he said: 'It was a big win. In the last 20 minutes we showed a lot of character so the whole team deserve a big compliment. When you are playing against Chelsea on their ground and go 1-0 down, you know it's going to be really difficult.'

Long memory: Van Persie in action against Chelsea back in December 2005, when he claims to have scored a goal that was wrongly ruled out.

An angry Scolari said: 'I want the referee and the linesman to look on television, admit they are wrong and say sorry. In the first half the linesman made the same mistake but against us [against Salomon Kalou].

'And in the second half for Arsenal's first goal it was a big mistake against us - he was more than one metre in front but not given offside. Offside killed my team.'

Scolari's comments about Dean were today being scrutinised by the Football Assocation and could land him in trouble.

Yesterday's victory puts the Gunners back into fourth place in the League and Emmanuel Adebayor claims it proves that they can still win title.

Having already lost five League games, Arsenal's credentials were under a severe examination. But Adebayor said: 'We went through a lot of difficult moments and people wrote us off. Now this is a message that we have sent out. We believe in ourselves, we can do something.'